Cooling and driving a marking wheel for freshly coated wire



Dec. 10, 1957 w. SpPEARSON 2,815,710

' COOLING AND DRIVING A MARKING WHEEL F0 SHLY COATED WIRE April 17, 1956 R Fi L125 2222:? 1- WL/[Lam ,5. Pearson United States This invention relates to marking devices and methods suchasare involved in printing on the surface of plastic covered wire or-the like.

A commercial form of marking devices includes a marking wheel having engraved print type on its periphery, and mounted on a horizontal axis above an associated ink pot or well so that a portion of the wheel periphery dips below the surface of the ink to keep the wheel inked. Wire is caused to pass over the wheel to be thereby marked, and it is the pressure of the wire onto the wheel periphery which causes the wheel to re- Volve as the wire is moved relatively to the marking device.

A particular problem encountered in a marking operation such as here indicated concerns the temperature of the Wire passing over the marking device. Since the device is generally used in relatively close proximity to associated extruding equipment for the wire, and since the extrusion wire velocity is often quite high, the wire is at a fairlyhigh'temperature when it passes the marking device. After a'period of operation of the marking device, therefore, the wheel and the ink often become unduly overheated. As a result, instead of the desired printing by transfer of ink from the marking wheel to the plastic, some of the plastic sticks or adheres to the marking wheel, and particularly to the engraved typeportions of the wheel periphery. This is of course objectionable, both-as to the quality of the coating surface, and'to the printing operation.

Another problem involves the motive power for obtaining the desired revolving movement of the marking wheel. Since the marking wheel is desirably of a fairly small diameter, and since the plastic-covered wire being printed is fairly stiff, there can usually be little or no angle of wrap of the wire over the marking wheel. Moreover, since the legibility is desirably rather sharp due both to general clarityrequirements and to the smallness of the print surface available, the wire should not engage the wheel with more than a fairly low maximum force. Other factors, such as the speed of travel of the wire, vary according'to'the particular application. Frictional resistence of different parts varies from time to time, as by diiferences'in the condition and lubrication of bearings of the marking wheel and of ink-wiping elements associated with the Wheel. The resistence attributable to the ink also varies, due to factors such as evaporation, ink-level, ink nature, viscosity factors, etc. All of these factors contribute to a greater or lesser extent to an ever-present difficulty of maintaining the marking wheel at a speed of revolution such that the linear travel of its engraved periphery is exactly that of the travel of the wire being marked.

According to the present invention, I provide economical means of simplified construction adapted to both cool the marking Wheel and to provide sufficient power to it thatit will beeasily moved with the wire.

In carryingout my invention in apreferred embodiment, l provide on or in association with the marking wheel an-annular series of elements such as blades, paddles," recess es,or thelike, adapted to .be actuated by an air jet directed thereagainst. Anozzle means, supplied with air under pressure, is mounted on the ink pot and ate ice directed toward the series of elements to provide a stream or jet of air to impinge upon them. As the air impinges upon them and as it sweeps along the adjacent surfaces of the marking wheel, it cools the wheel. The force of the air jet against the series of elements also provides a desired non-positive drive for the wheel to urge it to revolve in association with the wire being marked.

It is accordingly one object of my invention to provide new and improved means for cooling the marking wheel of a marking device.

A further object is to provide new and improved means for providing a non-positive drive to the marking Wheel to cause it to move in accordance with the wire being marked.

Another object is to provide a simple and economical attachment adapted to be readily fitted to wire-printing devices employing a marking Wheel, which will supply motive power to the wheel and which will also cool the wheel.

These and other objects, features, and advantages, of the present invention will be readily apparent from the following description of illustrative preferred embodiments thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a perspective view of a marking device embodying concepts of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the device shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a top plan view, generally similar to Figure 2, but showing an alternative arrangement; and

Figure 4 is an enlarged somewhat diagrammatic view looking toward the marking wheel and nozzle of the embodiment shown in Figure 3.

A marking device 10 embodying the present invention is illustrated as of a known type including a disk-like marking Wheel 12, and an ink well or pot 14, supported 'bysuitable supporting structure indicated generally by reference numeral 16.

The desired marking indicia or type 20 is suitably provided as by engraving upon the peripheral surface 24 of the marking wheel 12. The wheel 12 is carried by a shaft 26 suitably journaled in side walls 28 of the ink pot 14, as by bearings contained in a hollow bearing housing 29 shown formed as a boss outwardly extending from one of the side walls 28.

In this type marking device, wire 30 to be marked is supported for movement along a path generally tangential to the marking wheel periphery 24 so that the marking type 20 engages succeeding portions of the wire to apply the desired mark thereto. A centering and tensioning means 34 is desirably provided to keep the wire centered along the peripheral marking wheel surface 24 and to cause it to bear against that surface with the desired amount of force and pressure. The tcnsioning and centering means shown comprises an, idler wheel 36 having its periphery grooved as at 33 to receive the wire 39. The idler wheel 36 iscarried by an arm 49 pivotally carried by the supporting structure 16. Travel of the wire is in the direction indicated by the reference directional arrow 44.

The ink pot or well 14 of such a device is adapted to contain a supply of ink to be transferred by the engraved type 20 onto the wire 30. The ink herein referred to is liquid, although unlike ordinary ink it is usually of a lacquer base having a concentrated pigment. Desirahly, the level of the ink is such that it is just the bottom peripheral portion of the marking wheel 12 which dips below the surface of the ink, to pick up ink onto the type 20 for subsequent deposition upon the wire 30.

An ink-wiping means such as a Wiper blade or so-called doctor blade 50 is shown as carried by a bracket 52 journaled in the side walls 28 ofthe ink pot,'to engage the peliiphery 24 of the marking wheel 12 to scrape off excess 1n According to the present invention, I provide means adapted to both cool the marking wheel and to furnish auxiliary motive power to provide a non-positive drive to the wheel. Such means as shown includes an air jet system which in preferred form is adapted to provide both a pneumatic auxiliary drive and a cooling blast to the wheel.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, such means includes a source of moving air, such as a nozzle means or air outlet 60 adapted to direct a jet of air against the wheel 12. The nozzle is shown as supported as by a bracket 62 attached by bolts 64 to the ink pot 14, and conduit 66 provides means for supplying air under pressure to the nozzle 60 from an associated source.

e marking wheel 12 is provided with drivable means responsive to pneumatic actuation by an air stream delivered by the nozzle. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, such means comprise an annular series of recesses 68. While the recesses 68 may extend only partially through the wheel 12, in a preferred embodiment they extend all the way through the wheel and thereby permit air directed thereinto to exhaust to the opposite side of the wheel.

Desirably the axis of nozzle 60 is about 30 from the plane of the wheel 12 and generally tangential to the circular path of the series of recesses 68, to provide a desired sweep of air against the wheel and to supply the desired propelling force. A nozzle orifice of about one-sixteenth inch has been found suitable, with air pressures varied according to other factors present, say between about ten and sixty p. s. i.

In the operation of the device, air blown from the nozzle 60 impinges upon the recesses 68 and adjoining portions of the side face of the marking wheel, and both cools the wheel and provides the desired auxiliary non-positive power to the wheel.

In Figures 3 and 4, since the cooling and power means is adapted to a marking device which is in most respects generally identical with the marking device exemplified in Figures 1 and 2, similar but primed reference numerals are employed to identify corresponding parts of the two embodiments, and the description of such parts given in connection with the first embodiment applies to this modified form except as otherwise noted.

Accordingly, in Figures 3 and 4 a marking device has a marking wheel 12 supported as by a shaft 26' by bearings in a bearing housing 29 for revolving movement within an ink pot 14. Marking indicia or type is carried on the periphery 24' of the marking wheel and is adapted to apply the desired markings to wire 30' passing thereover, the wire traveling in a direction indicated by the reference arrow 44. A wiper blade is carried by bracket 52' to engage the wheel periphery 24 to wipe off excess ink.

A nozzle means is shown as supported by a bracket 62' mounted on the ink pot 14', and a conduit 66' supplies air from an associated source of air under pressure to the nozzle 60'.

The air jet responsive means of Figures 3 and 4 is shown as an air scoop arrangement comprising drivable projection means such as recesses or pockets shown as provided by paddles or blades 70 arranged in an annular series and carried on an auxiliary wheel or hub 72. The wheel 72 is shown as carried outwardly of the associated side-wall 28 with a sleeve 74 extending through that side-wall and against the marking wheel to receive heat therefrom for' transmission to wheel 72 for dissipation by the air blast from nozzle 60'. For enhancing the heat transmission characteristics, the sleeve 74 as shown is of a fairly large diameter, and has vanes or webs 76 engaging the marking wheel 12'.

It will thus be seen from the foregoing description of my invention according to two illustrative embodiments, considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, that the present invention provides a new and improved means and method for both cooling and driving a marking wheel of a printing device, and that the invention has the desired advantages and characteristics, and accomplishes its intended objects, including those hereinbefore pointed out and others which are inherent in the invention as described.

It will be understood that modifications and variations may be effected without departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the present invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. ln apparatus for applying markings to the periphery of freshly coated wire arriving at the apparatus at a substantial temperature whereat the coating is still in a heated tacky condition, a marking wheel having peripheral marking means, means for supporting the wheel in position for running of the coated wire over said periphery and with frictional engagement of the running coated wire affording principal rotary motivation for the wheel, and a jet producing member disposed to effect cooling of said wheel by impingement of a jet in generally the direction of rotation of the wheel, whereby not only to maintain the wheel cool enough to assure sufficient chilling of the wire coating on contact with the marking periphery of the wheel to avoid sticking of the wire coating to the wheel periphery .but also to assist in assuring rotary movement of the wheel at the same surface speed as running of the wire for thereby assuring legibility of the markings applied to the wire periphery by the marking means on the wheel periphery.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the wheel has a plurality of recesses directly therein adjacent to but spaced radially from said wheel periphery, and said jet means is disposed in a position to impinge the jet therefrom against the walls defining said openings in the direction of revolution of the wheel.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the wheel has a shaft provided with a heat conducting member that engages the wheel and has thereon an impeller which is a part of the heat conducting member and the jet is directed against said impeller in the direction of revolution of the wheel and cools the impeller and said heat conducting member to cool the wheel.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the supporting means comprises an ink pot into which the periphery of the wheel dips and the jet producing means is mounted on a bracket attached to the ink pot.

5. In a method of cooling and assisting in the revolution of a marking wheel for freshly coated wire running at substantial velocity from an extruder wherein the coating is applied in a heated condition so that there is substantial residual heat in the wire and coating for some distance beyond the extruder, and wherein the freshly coated and still hot wire is run in peripheral contact with a marking wheel subject to heating and therefore peripheral sticking of the wire coating on the wheel periphery and also lagging of the peripheral speed of the wheel and the linear velocity of the coated wire, the step of impinging a cooling fluid stream against a surface revolving with the wheel and in cooling relation to said wheel periphery whereby to maintain the wheel sufficiently cool to avoid sticking of the wire coating to the wheel periphery and to afford driving force to the wheel in the direction of rotation thereof to assure constant common peripheral speed of the wheel with the linear velocity of the coated wire.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 868,438 Hutchings Oct. 15, 1907 1,369,567 Smith Feb. 22, 1921 2,624,171 Kollsman Jan. 6, 1953 2,697,852 Bailey Dec. 28, 1954 2,770,009 Rogal et a1 Nov. 13, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 152,876 Australia Aug. 18, 1953 

